How can I introduce my young chickens with my 5 year old hens?

Question

I have 5 hans that are 3 months old and 3 older chickens (about 5 years). They are seperated, but whenever they get into each others coops, the big ones peck and fight with the younger chickens. Can they ever learn to live with each other?

Answer 1

Yes they can. Put the little ones near the older ones so they can see each other through the fence and get used to living near each other.   Don't let them in the same coop until the young ones are the same size as the older.  They are all de-beaked right?  So no matter how they peck at each other they won't hurt each other to badly.  Just move slowly and I'm sure they will atleast tolerate each other.

Edit: Debeaking does not mean "remove the whole beak" it means "remove the sharp hook on the end of the beak"  All chickens should be debeaked or else they will peck each other to death and eat each other.  Debeaking is painless and doesn't cause the birds any harm.  If your birds haven't been debeaked that might be part of the reason they are fighting.

Answer 2

Chickens do have a pecking order, so it may take some time to establish it and there will be some minor fights as they sort each other out.

The best way is to do as the person above said - allow them to see each other and interact through a fence for a while in order to acclimate them to each other. When they are the same size as your older chickens, you can introduce them.

Make sure you are around to supervise! There will always be minor fights as they get adjusted, but from time to time these minor fights could turn into something serious - and at this point the chickens will need to be separated.

Answer 3

Yeh sure, when you do finally put them together make sure it is at night time when its dark, and then when the chickens are let out in the morning they will all b together. you may want to wait until the younger chickens are fully gron so that they are not picked on for size!

Answer 4

yes just throw them all on the stove